Physiological arousal and dissociation in acute trauma victims during trauma narratives

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine whether the finding of suppressed physiological activity in dissociative rape-trauma victims (Griffin, Resick, & Mechanic, 1997) was replicable in a nonsexual assault trauma group. A sample of 17 high-dissociating (HD) participants and 18 low-dissociating (LD) participants who had experienced a motor vehicle accident or physical assault described their trauma while skin conductance, heart rate activity, and self-reported mood were recorded. HD individuals demonstrated a trend for elevated heart rate during the experiment compared with LD participants, but both groups displayed comparable skin-conductance levels. Curve estimation analysis indicated that the two groups had a similar pattern of physiological responding during the trauma narratives. These findings challenge the notion that dissociative reactions are associated with reduced psychophysiological arousal after trauma.

The Responses to Script-Driven Imagery Scale (RSDI): Assessment of State Posttraumatic Symptoms for Psychobiological and Treatment Research

“…Assessing the construct validity of these two RSDI subscales, however, is not straightforward. In fact, inconsistent findings were expected across samples, because (1) avoidance and dissociation may arise immediately or after substantial reexperiencing, (2) dissociative disorders (e.g., sample 2) may entail unique relationships between state dissociation and other variables, and (3) conflicting findings have been reported on relationships between dissociation and HR reactivity in different samples (Griffin et al 1997;Nixon et al 2005).…”

“…Because avoidance could occur from the outset or after engagement with trauma-related stimuli had occurred and physiological reactivity had manifested, small correlations were tentatively predicted for correlations between RSDI Avoidance and HR reactivity. Based on prior conflicting findings with respect to dissociation and physiological reactivity (e.g., Griffin et al 1997;Nixon et al 2005), as well as the possibility that dissociation could occur immediately or later in the process, no general prediction was made with regard to correlations between RSDI Dissociation and HR reactivity across both samples. However, though sample 2 did not differ from the other two clinical samples on the measure of trait dissociation (see below), it was thought that qualitative differences associated with suffering from a dissociative disorder could manifest as different relationships between RSDI Dissociation scores and HR reactivity in response to the trauma script.…”

“…Griffin and colleagues (Griffin et al 1997) found that rape survivors with PTSD who had experienced high peritraumatic dissociation subsequently exhibited less physiological reactivity while talking about the event than those with low peritraumatic dissociation (but see Nixon et al 2005). Lanius et al (2002) compared PTSD participants with dissociative responses to script-driven imagery to trauma-exposed non-PTSD controls, using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), heart rate monitoring, and a modified version of the CADSS.…”

Acute dissociation predicts rapid habituation of skin conductance responses to aversive auditory probes

“…On the other hand, Nixon, Bryant, Moulds, Felmingham, and Mastrodomenico (2005) found in their sample of motor vehicle accident or physical assault victims that heightened levels of peritraumatic dissociation tended to be accompanied by raised autonomic responsivity (i.e., elevated heart rate; see also Ladwig et al, 2002). However, these studies have investigated the relationship between peritraumatic dissociation during trauma and physiological responsivity at a later point in time (i.e., weeks, months, or years after the trauma).…”

PTSD and Related Disorders

“…Several studies have not found differences in autonomic arousal between dissociative and nondissociative individuals with PTSD [123][124][125]. It appears that our current understanding of the role of dissociation in relation to arousal is very limited, and it is unclear whether there is sufficient evidence to include a unique dissociative subtype of PTSD in DSM-5.…”